Page 32 - 2019 AMA Summer

GUESTWRITER
BE ABLE TO DESCRIBE AND EXPLAIN THE PROCESSES OF GLACIAL EROSION AND TRANSPORTATION. IDENTIFY FEATURES OF EROSION AND DEPOSITION.
Glaciation. Many people did a little learning about glaciation at school. But, there are frequent misconceptions. I’ve often heard that ‘glaciation formed these mountains’ oh no it didn’t! If the mountains are over 450 million years old in the Lake District and Snowdonia, with even the rocks of the Pennines and Brecon Beacons being 350 million years old, and the last ice age having only finished 10,000 years ago, having lasted 2 million years, that means that water did most of the work of eroding our hills and mountains. All glaciation has done is added a few finishing touches, created some arêtes, cwms, and left behind some moraine debris. A mountain leader should know how these features are formed, roughly when they were formed and something of what they add to the story of these places.
BE ABLE TO DESCRIBE THE LIVES OF AROUND 12 KEY MAMMAL, BIRD OR OTHER LIVING SPECIES IN YOUR AREA OF OPERATION.
There is always a danger of creating an approved list of things to know. We really don’t want to do this but, from your point of view you might just need to know what it is you do need to know. I’m thinking that if I give you an achievable target perhaps it’ll inspire you to work towards it. How about picking a dozen of these raven, meadow pipit, wheatear, stonechat, kestrel, peregrine falcon, golden eagle, grouse, snow bunting, stonechat, hen harrier, ptarmigan, curlew, common vole, field mouse, goat, fox, badger or deer. It doesn’t have to be from this list that’s just a few examples. But, a little knowledge of how to recognise them, where and when you might see them their life cycle, anything really would definitely increase your enjoyment of the hills.
BE ABLE TO RECOGNISE AND DESCRIBE, INCLUDING SOME USES MEDICINALLY, HISTORICAL AND CURRENT, AROUND 12 PLANT SPECIES INCLUDING SOME UPLAND SPECIALISTS.
Should I give you a list or should I leave it to you? Is 12 the right number? How about some arctic-alpines, maybe purple saxifrage, maybe the Snowdon lily or rose root? How about some woodland species that you might see on the hill like wood sorrel, wood anemones or common cow wheat? It could be the heathers, gorse or maybe a tree or two. Are you interested in the mosses, lichens or fungi? There is so much information about these knocking around that you will need to think about what is achievable, give it a whirl, pick a number and make a list; expand your knowledge.
BE ABLE TO EXPLAIN HOW LAND USE OVER TIME HAS CONTRIBUTED TO HOW THE UPLANDS LOOK THE WAY THEY DO AND HOW THIS MAY CONTINUE TO CHANGE INCLUDING SOME OF THE CHOICES CURRENTLY BEING DISCUSSED.
In many ways this is the real nub of the matter, this is the real need to know. We need to understand that however our hills look now, this is not how they have always looked. Many of them were wooded to a considerable height. In England and Wales this means deciduous woodland with oak then birch, alder and aspen rising up the hillsides. In Scotland a woodland dominated by Scots Pine would have crept further up the hills than it might today. There were openings, there were pastures, large herbivores were indigenous and would have maintained woodland clearings. The tops were often too exposed for vegetation to grow to any height but, by the same token this provided space for travel and places to live at times when the climate was a little more benign than it is today. We see a patch work of heather, neatly manicured with
strips of ageing heather, strips of young heather, shoots all carefully managed to provide for grouse. This is not a natural landscape. We see stands of imported pine trees, artificially created reservoirs and we have to keep out of some areas due to military exercises. But the biggest impact is that of grazing sheep. Miles and miles of our uplands are denuded of any interesting botanical diversity by years of over grazing, encouraged by Government and European subsidies. This sterile upland is ‘sold’ to us as wild, natural beauty. It is not, and we are only just beginning to evaluate it and look at ways of improving it. On the news is the way we subsidise our farmers; is it to solely to produce food or is it to manage the environment for wildlife and nature, and if between, where between?
Mike Raine MIC BA (Hons) PGCE is one of the Senior Instructors at Plas Y Brenin, the National Mountain Centre. His responsibil- ities include environment, and the Home Nation Mountain Training Schemes. Mike is also the author of Nature of Snowdonia the invaluable handbook for most Mountain Leadership candidates whether operating in Snowdonia or elsewhere. Mike spent several years in outdoor centres and teaching before taking up his current post at Plas y Brenin in 2005. Mike also runs his own Nature of Snowdonia Workshops and on 29th September 2019 he will run the first ever Nature of Snowdonia – ‘Nice to know; Need to know’ Environmental Workshop for qualified and aspirant Mountain Leaders and Mountaineering Instructors. You can find out more on his Facebook blog Mike Raine: Notes from
the Hill or follow him on Twitter @ mikerraine
Tormentil, it’s everywhere in the hills but, did you know it grows to around a metre tall when ungrazed and that it is considered by herbalists to be one of our most useful plants.
32 / ARMY MOUNTAINEER
Birds of the uplands – the raven is a constant companion but, what do you know about it?